So the competition submission period has finally ended and its now on to the judging phase, I will try to have the judging complete as quickly as possible but it could take a week or so.

This was the first time I’ve ever run any kind of competition ever of any kind, so any feedback would be great as I plan to do another for you guys in the future. (If you guys want)

Congratulations to everyone that made a final submission, they all look fantastic, and I cannot wait to start playing through them.I also want to say a huge thanks to everyone that took part, even those of you that weren't able to finish in time.

Phillip from Planet Phillip has asked if we can compile a Forgotten Journey Map Pack for release on his site, with everyone’s permission I think this would be a great idea. You will obviously be allowed to update your map with bug fixes and additional touches if you want too.

Seriously, that was some A+ grade execution. I thought the level of authenticity really added a lot, and your constant openness to feedback was appreciated. By authenticity I mean the mini-site and sub-forum; that level of officalness gave a sense that the competition was serious business, helped keep everything well organised, and gave a welcomed boot up the backside to the community. Credit to yourself and Blink for setting it all up.

I think the length of the competition was ideal. Not too short and not too long, and the theme was ideal; nice and lenient while providing a really firm start and end point that's open to the mapper's vision.

Excellent work on the prizes as well - great motivators, and it's just plain nice to get some cool swag.

Overall I think you did a great job Steve, and I'm looking forward to entering the next one. I think people might be a little more organised next time, but we'll see.

In regards to Phillip's request, depending on timing, I would like to include my entry in it if I get it finished. Gotta represent our elitist asses.

As for the map pack - sounds like an excellent idea. As my entry is blatantly unfinished in many ways - and should be rightfully judged as it is - I'd be more than delighted to have the chance to update it for the map pack.

I'd definitely love to see more competitions in the future! Next time I will start early.

Last edited by Soulia on Tue Jul 01, 2014 9:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I think you pulled this off really well Steve. I wasn't too sure at first, but seven final submissions is certainly more than I had hoped (even though there is a much larger number of WIP threads that I wish I got to see finished). I haven't been able to play through them yet, but by the looks of it all of them look really fantastic. I'm a bit sad I didn't find the time to join, but I really wish I did, and I hope to see more of these in the future. I didn't enter but the map pack sounds like a good idea, PlanetPhillip is a nice place.

On a side note, I've been really happy with the way you've been doing things here ever since your return Steve. Getting a signed poster from Valve, the interview, and just generally being the guy who keeps up with news posts the most and keeps the place alive during a period of what you could say relative bleakness and declining interest in the HL2 modding community. So yeah, keep it up!

I've really enjoyed this contest and I am looking forward to another one in the future. It's been so much fun to start up hammer again after almost two years, and getting a lot of constructive feedback.

I think you've done a great job on this contest (with the contest site, information, etc) - neat and tidy.

After the contest concludes a poll will run to allow the community to determine the top five map submissions.From these final five I will then choose a final three and decide which will be first, second, and third.

Thanks for all the kind words guys!It was super fun to run and was great seeing everyone's maps take shape, it was also great to see participants giving other participants really decent feedback. - great job!

Im glad you all seem to have liked the idea of the mini site, it was a little extra work to pull off but seems to have been worth it. I think im getting better with putting sites together so expect the next one to be even better I have quite a few ideas for future competitions so stay tuned, just need to sort out some new prizes!

The only downside of the whole thing was that I couldn't enter the competition myself. But im working on a level myself at the moment which ill hopefully get around to revealing soon.

I should also say huge thanks to Blink for his support and putting up with some of my noob moments, and just in case anyone from Valve is reading this, Thanks for the awesome prizes!

After the contest concludes a poll will run to allow the community to determine the top five map submissions.From these final five I will then choose a final three and decide which will be first, second, and third.

I haven't forgotten however that was written in anticipation of there being slightly more final submissions, I guess I was over optimistic But as there are only 7 entries I am planning to go over all of them myself and write up some feedback and critique for each.However if people really want a poll to determine the final 5 out of the 7 then I will happily make one.

As soon as im able too finish my write up.I really enjoyed playing everyone's submission btw, they were are great fun to play.But have been so busy this week and family are also visiting... just arnt enough hours in the day.